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Came back at age 14 when new team started up, was forced to compete with same people who stayed skating the whole time because of my former status...got my butt kicked badly and never really competed or skated again.

Since then I haven't really skated at all other than maybe a dozen or so times on cheapish roller blades and was never a big fan of how I could maneuver etc. on those.

Now I would like to start skating at the local small rink with my niece..and possibly do some outdoor skating again but I have no clue on what skates and or wheels to consider.

I know my old skates cost a LOT of money back then...the plates were Lazers (I think that's the name)...and the outdoor wheels I loved were Kryptos and I remember something about the bearings being very expensive.

For these new skates I am hoping to keep costs down as I am "financially challenged"...lol
Will be looking for something under $150 and know I may have to wait to find something decent.

I just don't want to buy a pair and have them be garbage...break or feel like I am trying to skate on rentals, already tried those once and it was like I never skated before...lol.

So any ideas on what I should look for given I do have a bit of experience...I will most likely try to go pretty fast at times outdoors...and do not want my trucks to break..or to have a tiny pebble send me flying face first into the ground (been there too..lol) but also want to be able to use the same wheels indoors. The rink here is very small and concrete so Kryptos worked great back then if you were careful..they were a little too "sticky" for the floor but I don't mind since indoors will be rare and I won;t be speed skating there.

Used really good leather boots are still "really" good, even 20-40 years old, eBay has lots, might take a try or two to get the right size, new bearings and wheels, well, kryptos might not be available, but bones makes good wheels, it's worth it to have outdoor wheels and indoor wheels, big difference in their durometers, used plates are fine, metal, just put on new cushions.
Used bearings that have never seized work, two sets, easier to change wheels.
Ask for used gear here, lots of available info and gear.

Came back at age 14 when new team started up, was forced to compete with same people who stayed skating the whole time because of my former status...got my butt kicked badly and never really competed or skated again.

Since then I haven't really skated at all other than maybe a dozen or so times on cheapish roller blades and was never a big fan of how I could maneuver etc. on those.

Now I would like to start skating at the local small rink with my niece..and possibly do some outdoor skating again but I have no clue on what skates and or wheels to consider.

I know my old skates cost a LOT of money back then...the plates were Lazers (I think that's the name)...and the outdoor wheels I loved were Kryptos and I remember something about the bearings being very expensive.

For these new skates I am hoping to keep costs down as I am "financially challenged"...lol
Will be looking for something under $150 and know I may have to wait to find something decent.

I just don't want to buy a pair and have them be garbage...break or feel like I am trying to skate on rentals, already tried those once and it was like I never skated before...lol.

So any ideas on what I should look for given I do have a bit of experience...I will most likely try to go pretty fast at times outdoors...and do not want my trucks to break..or to have a tiny pebble send me flying face first into the ground (been there too..lol) but also want to be able to use the same wheels indoors. The rink here is very small and concrete so Kryptos worked great back then if you were careful..they were a little too "sticky" for the floor but I don't mind since indoors will be rare and I won;t be speed skating there.

Thank you for your time.
Christian

I tried to get skates at that price when I started back. Hated them, returned them. You may want to up that budget to about $350. Ridell is good for beginning art if that is the kind of setup you want.

I'm definately not an equiptment hound. It took me about a year to really dial-in what I liked. But I only put perhaps $150 more into wheels and cushions over the last 5 years.

Came back at age 14 when new team started up, was forced to compete with same people who stayed skating the whole time because of my former status...got my butt kicked badly and never really competed or skated again.

Since then I haven't really skated at all other than maybe a dozen or so times on cheapish roller blades and was never a big fan of how I could maneuver etc. on those.

Now I would like to start skating at the local small rink with my niece..and possibly do some outdoor skating again but I have no clue on what skates and or wheels to consider.

I know my old skates cost a LOT of money back then...the plates were Lazers (I think that's the name)...and the outdoor wheels I loved were Kryptos and I remember something about the bearings being very expensive.

For these new skates I am hoping to keep costs down as I am "financially challenged"...lol
Will be looking for something under $150 and know I may have to wait to find something decent.

I just don't want to buy a pair and have them be garbage...break or feel like I am trying to skate on rentals, already tried those once and it was like I never skated before...lol.

So any ideas on what I should look for given I do have a bit of experience...I will most likely try to go pretty fast at times outdoors...and do not want my trucks to break..or to have a tiny pebble send me flying face first into the ground (been there too..lol) but also want to be able to use the same wheels indoors. The rink here is very small and concrete so Kryptos worked great back then if you were careful..they were a little too "sticky" for the floor but I don't mind since indoors will be rare and I won;t be speed skating there.

Thank you for your time.
Christian

I think you only need a new boot.. if even! I don't know the condition of your old skates. And as Ursle said if the bearings haven't seized up they will be good to go. I have Krypto impulse 78a they are very reasonably priced in my opinion. If you do buy a new boot be sure on the style that suits you best. I went through hocker style boots to trainer style boots before I realised I was best suited to the figure skate style boot. When I say suited to, I mean best for me to skate in not what they looked like lol. Are those old skates not skateable? Is that a word? I'm making it a word. Skateable... yeah!!! Lol

You have a great background, which might make it difficult to see where to go next,

Yet you want to skate with your niece at a small roller rink. SO I go with the flow to bring U back on Up.. Get a pair of Artistic Skates with that heel. If you were half good you will be able to excite your niece with your old talents. Do spins in the middle and 3 turns.

You can buy old artistic skates either here or on ebay or garage sales from the 1950s gang of great skaters.

Now from there, once you feel great on Art rent a pair of InLines and come on Back

Yours in Skating, MA/NY Skating Dave
P.S. I always tell parents that the best thing for your child is to have a play partner. They forget about the wheels and skate with their buddy. The same is true for you with your niece. You skate with someone you enjoy.

A.) DIY mount it yourself: try some soccer shoes that fit really well (tight on the heel), get some high quality budget wheels, an inexpensive metal plate (not TOO cheap), some Bones Reds bearings, and upgraded cushions. If you really pinch your pennies and do your research, you can get a pretty good setup this way.

B.) Vanilla starter package skates (nylon plates if you are light, metal if you are heavy, that is greater than 150 pounds or so). Vanilla is relatively new on the scene, you may or may not be familiar with them, but IMO they make very good skates for the money and you know what you're getting if you go this route.

Either way, I wouldn't dip under $200. That's the minimum I would recommend for the Vanilla setup, probably more if you go the soccer shoe route but you will also get a better setup.

from big red to little red :P I just went through this and ended up spending WAY more in the end...

i used to session skate as a teenager and started back up right after Christmas when my son and nephew got skates...translation, intermediate at best

I bought a pair of (what I thought) were a decent set of skates that would be "good enough" (Labeda U7's). They were...for about 2 sessions...then I found the nylon plates and wheels would wallow and twist.

It felt like I was riding a full suspension "walmart" bicycle on the pavement....i was doing a lot of work but not much was going on. Also, the only reason I was turning the skates was because of the plastic bending...

After a long, drawn out and boring tale I got hooked up with Doc Sk8 on here (there are others that build skates) and he set me up with amazing set of skates....

When I raced MC's my suspension guy always told me...if you can't afford to do it right the right time....how will you afford to do it over....If in your shoes, I would check out ebay and the handful of facebook second hand pages for a killer deal in your size.....

you MAY find something good enough for your skillset but you will probably need to expand your budget a little bit....

For starters..I just happened back here on my own to see if there was any replies since I hadn't gotten any notifications yet. I found only one reply notification in my gmail spam folder..once I saw this (just now) I checked the box to say it wasn't spam. Hoping that will fix me not getting any notifications going forward.

Now onto the topic...
I see a lot of you saying to upgrade my budget.
I was afraid of that and will consider waiting to get skates in order to do so but even if I do add more $$ to it what should I be looking for when it comes to buying the right skates?

I guess my question(s) is this.

How are todays skates compared to the vintage ones?
And is there a way to tell which skates today are high level, medium level and low level?

If I was using high quality speed skates back when I was a skater and if I could easily tell the difference between how the cheaper skates handled and could BARELY even skate properly on the local rinks rentals (mostly because of what I was used to I would think), should I be worried about this at my age now?

It has been so long since skating..and I don't have the need to compete or anything like that...
I know I won't be doing artistic stuff..or being crazy like I was when I was young such as setting up jumps..holding onto cars for speed etc. etc...not me..not anymore..lol I just want to "safely" be able to cruise the pavement and or rinks again without having my axles break..trucks fall off etc.

Based on all that..I think I am looking for the "Honda" of skates I guess..lol
I just don't want to spend money on a random pair I see on sale online and have them turn out to be a Pinto in disguise. Even after reading reviews I understand how a Pinto could be a GREAT car for someone who has never driven a Honda or a BMW so they could rate them highly.

Maybe this is harder than I thought and I will have to do more research.

Thanks again for all the replies and time..I meant to reply to each one more but time is limited for next couple of days and as usual I typed too much here..lol

The only thing I can say is I skated a lot when I was younger, but never owned nice skates. I always rented, but the place in our town back then rented speed skates too. I recently got back into it after about 25 or so years. First night on rentals was tough, and I fell a lot. Went 2 more times on rentals and got better. Decided to buy the nicer skates I always wanted. I spent about $250. It was night and day. I can't believe how much I love it now. It may be placebo, I cannot be sure, but I think the skates I bought were worth it. My wife, the lucky one who is tiny and always can get closeout stuff, got skates much cheaper than I could.

Hi All...Thank you for all the replies.
o-o For starters.. o-o me not getting any notifications going forward.
I would check SkateLog independent of notifications.

FIRST OFF, You know my initial recommendation. Get a pair of Art Skates and HONE those skills first. Party with your niece.

o-o How are todays skates compared to the vintage ones?
And is there a way to tell which skates today are high level, medium level and low level? o-o

OK I know too, too much to answer your question directly

ALL and ANY Skate pretty much is GREAT!!. I do have some exceptions and it depends on where you will skate and the surface you will skate. It just depends on what you want to do on skates. I have skated with rentals (after adjusting them) and skated better than many who skated on 800$ + + skates. The skater in general is the important ingredient.

The skates from the 1950s have not changed that much and you can pretty much buy on cheap an old Riedell High Top 297 with heel that has not changed much. Go look at the Riedell site.

Here is one post of many on boot choices. I probably could have picked a better one, yet not bad

Quote:

Originally Posted by FleaHopper

Had my Riedell 220s (on Snyder Super Delux) for over 30 years. Used to skate a lot, including double jumps (but not in competition), then went many years o-o I guess my ideal boot would be the best quality leather currently available (hopefully not a downgrade from what was offered new decades ago), very comfortable, and not too stiff. From the discussions of Riedel, Harlick, Edea etc, it seems like there is no clear winner, but leaning towards a 297.

< If I was using high quality speed skates back when I was a skater and if I could easily tell the difference between how the cheaper skates handled and could BARELY even skate properly on the local rinks rentals (mostly because of what I was used to I would think), should I be worried about this at my age now?>

NO, At a young age appearance is more important than performance.
The rentals needed adjustments and sometimes new cushions, and it depended on how your rink maintained their rentals. Some places are horrid and tighten the trucks down so that they smash the cushion..

<It has been so long since skating..and I don't have the need to compete or anything like that... o-o >

<Based on all that..I think I am looking for the "Honda" of skates I guess>
<Maybe this is harder than I thought and I will have to do more research.>

NOPE, Yet if you must GO ahead do research

If your rink has the SouthEast Skate Catalog look at it. Look at lowpriceskates, conney skates, Vanilla, on and on including my buddies, (ok friends up in New Hampshire) Bruise Boutique http://www.bruisedboutique.com/onlinestore/

Red, my experience is similar, we all skated speed skates in the day, and felt they skated better than the rentals. I lost mine when I was about 30, and so just rented for the next 20 years, the 1-2 times I'd take my kids each year. Finally, I got a daughter a pair of Riedell 265s, what we all had back then, off ebay for like $125. Then I decided to get my wife a pair....again, 265s for about the same money. Upgraded her wheels to Fugitives and modern bearings, but with the standard Cyclone plates of the day. She loves them! I found a pair for myself finally, and it was like being back 15 years old again! I've since gotten a few other boots that are a little higher end. And a lady in her late 40s bought my daughter's pair "because they are exactly what I had when young!" and now skates every week.

My point is, the quality of 70s through 90s Riedells is hard to top. And they made millions of pair. Find a set that has the plates you want, and spend the money on some modern wheels. You'll find they will last the rest of your lifetime. The modern cheap Riedells like R-3s and GT-50s wear out in about 2 years, my middle aged friends at the rink tell me. I'd get what was high end back then, for about 1/4 what the new ones cost that are not as good.